His own man starts out fairly standard, until you meet the malfoys. Perhaps a little unrealistic in that aspect but it does make an interesting change to see the Malfoys not be completely evil. The other difference that I feel is worth commenting on is Sirius. Sirius is so broken and some of the passerby comments that are made just really hit you hard. Overall I think Sirius is very well written.
Things that don't change
Dumbledore still manipulative, Harry still too mature although he doesn't even try to hide it, and so far Snape will be Snape although his character has some depth to it as well.
Some interesting differences from the cookie cutter format
His own man starts out fairly standard, until you meet the malfoys. Perhaps a little unrealistic in that aspect but it does make an interesting change to see the Malfoys not be completely evil. The other difference that I feel is worth commenting on is Sirius. Sirius is so broken and some of the passerby comments that are made just really hit you hard. Overall I think Sirius is very well written.
Dumbledore still manipulative, Harry still too mature although he doesn't even try to hide it, and so far Snape will be Snape although his character has some depth to it as well.